The field of the invention is devices for facilitating the opening of rolls of coins. For many years, coins have been provided from the bank in rolls, typically of 50 coins. These rolls have been made from kraft paper. Such paper wrapped rolls are relatively easy to open by striking the side of the roll of coins against a sharp edge, thus, breaking the paper wrapper and permitting the coins to fall out.
More recently, shrink wrapped plastic tubes have been used and these tubes do not break so easily. Various cutters have been devised. U.S. Pat. No. 1,959,378 shows a recessed blade which forms a circumferential cut adjacent one end of a fiberboard tube. U.S. Pat. No. 2,050,768, likewise, forms a circumferential cut in a paper tube. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,382,330 uses blades to cut the crimped end portions from the paper wrapper. Design Patent No. 292,139 shows a coin roll opener which has a rigidly mounted circular blade held with its blade portion held slightly above the floor of the device.
A coin roll cutter is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,611. This utilizes a blade to form a circumferential cut in the wrapper. U.S. Pat. No. 4,825,738 is concerned with the removal of shrink wrap plastic wrappers. The coin roll is engaged on a corner of the cutter and the roll is rotated which cuts an opening in a generally circumferential manner in the plastic wrapper.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,253 utilizes a pair of blades which form a pair of opposed cuts near one end of the roll of coins. Lastly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,320 has a blade positioned at the base of a curved surface. The wrapped roll of coins is struck or pressed against the blade which cuts into the roll between adjacent coins. The roll is then more easily opened.
In many of these devices the blade is exposed for potential injury to the user. In others the device is fine for the paper or fiberboard but is incapable of opening the plastic shrink wrap rolls. Because such rolls often need to be opened in a hurry when customers are waiting, the present methods do not provide a reliable opening procedure and there is invariably a great deal of hitting of the roll of coins against the cash register drawer or counter top which can damage either these devices or the cashier's fingers.